Rental housing unlawful housing practices: applications: criminal history information.

Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, generally prohibits housing discrimination with respect to the personal characteristics of race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, source of income, disability, veteran or military status, or genetic information. This bill would make it an unlawful housing practice for the owner of a rental housing accommodation, or another individual or business establishment, to inquire about, or require an applicant for a rental housing accommodation to disclose, or to otherwise seek, consider, use, or take adverse action on, criminal history information, as defined, during the initial application assessment phase, as defined, unless otherwise required by state or federal law. After the successful completion of the initial application assessment phase, the bill would permit an owner, individual, or business to request a criminal background check of the applicant and consider an applicant's criminal history information in deciding whether to rent or lease to the applicant. This bill would require an owner who is considering denying an application based in whole or in part on the criminal background check or the applicant's criminal history information to, within 5 days of receiving the information that is the basis of the possible denial, provide the applicant with a written statement listing the reasons for the possible denial and specified information relating to each conviction before making a final decision. If, within 3 days of receipt of the written statement of the possible denial, the applicant provides the owner notice of evidence demonstrating the inaccuracy of the item or items within the applicant's criminal history information or evidence of rehabilitation or other mitigating factors, as specified, the bill would require the owner to reconsider their decision for a specified time, and would require the owner to provide written notification to the applicant of the owner's final decision to deny the application. This bill would prohibit the owner, in a rental application or as otherwise part of the application process, from seeking, considering, using, or taking an adverse action based in whole or in part on specified information or occurrences, including, among others, arrests that did not result in conviction, convictions that have been voided, and juvenile justice determinations. The bill would also require an owner to provide an applicant notice, as specified, in the application itself. The bill would provide that its provisions do not apply under specified circumstances, including if the rental housing accommodation is a single-family home, duplex, triplex, or accessory dwelling unit in which the owner occupies a unit or bedroom as a principal residence. Existing law establishes the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, under the direction of an executive officer to, among other things, receive, investigate, conciliate, mediate, and prosecute complaints alleging unlawful practices. Existing law establishes procedures for the prevention and elimination of discrimination in housing made unlawful under its provisions, including authorizing any person claiming to be aggrieved by an alleged violation of specified provisions to file a verified complaint in writing with the department. Existing law requires the department to investigate an alleged violation and, in the case of failure to eliminate a violation that has occurred, or is about to occur, through conference, conciliation, mediation, or persuasion, requires the director to file a civil action in the name of the department on behalf of that person. This bill would extend the application of those enforcement procedures to the above-described unlawful housing practices.